Roy Keane: My management days might be over but I count my blessings

Former Man Utd skipper believes return of Ronaldo to Old Trafford was worth the gamble

REFLECTING: Roy Keane

ROY Keane says he’s coming to terms with the likelihood that his managerial career could be in the past tense.

Speaking to fellow Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher for website SPORTbible, the ex-Sunderland and Ipswich Town boss was asked whether he felt like a “manager doing punditry”.

“I did up until recently, but I almost feel, I think, those days are over for me,” the 50-year-old Cork man said.

“It’s maybe more of a head job that is the role for me and over the next few years I can’t see a club giving me a real good opportunity to get back into it. But I don’t mind that either. 

“I’m not fearful of going ‘you might do TV for the next two or three years’, I don’t mind that. I count my blessings, because as you know there are a lot of ex-players looking to get back into it.” 

The former Ireland and Man Utd captain seemed destined for a long career in management when he switched seamlessly from playing into the role at Sunderland, overhauling the relegation threatened Black Cats into Championship winners in 2007.

He kept them in the Premier League the following season before standing down in December 2008 after a falling out with then-owner Ellis Short.

He then had a less successful spell as manager of Ipswich before stints as an assistant manager for Republic of Ireland, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest.

Keane is now a popular pundit with Sky Sports but has never hidden his ambition to return to management. In an interview in November with Gary Neville on Sky, he revealed he’d interviewed with a club in the English Championship at the start of this season.

Speaking at a charity function in Kerry during December, he gave his take on his employability rating based on “perception”.

“I’d like to get back in but I don’t think it’s going to happen,” he admitted. “It’s my gut feeling. People have a perception of me; they look back at my playing career thinking I fell out with everybody. I’ve had management opportunities but not the ones I want. I want to have a bit of freedom, not answering to nobody.

“I’m not going to give that up for a job in League One or Championship. not unless I think I have a bit of a chance. You need that bit of luck too. Sunderland was a good fit for me because Niall Quinn had gone with the Irish consortium.

“But, from day one at Ipswich Town, I didn’t feel it. We had too many draws in a season, a record for the club.

“It’s not a sob story because I’m a member of the League Managers Association in England and there’s better managers than me out of work. They’ve got better CVs so can’t say I deserve a chance more than anybody else.” 

Shortly afterwards, however, he was approached by Sunderland’s new owners about a return. The move didn’t happen after a week of talks, with the job of guiding the team out of League One handed instead to Alex Neil.

On the topic of comebacks, Keane differs with his former teammate Wayne Rooney about Cristiano Ronaldo’s sequel stint at Manchester United.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn't it," Keane said about the Portuguese’s recapture from Juventus on the final day of the summer transfer window.

"I still think Ronaldo was worth the gamble. In the bigger picture, it's not a great signing because of his age and whatever. I still think he can bring something to the party and I think he has, but I think whatever is going on around him hasn't been good enough.

“I still think Ronaldo could show better leadership skills. I know he's been upset once or twice when he's been left out.

"He clearly wasn't going to play in all of the games, but he's still shown moments. The Tottenham game, some of the European games, I still think it was worth the gamble."